By Manuel Otero, Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)

THE Amazon Summit that took place recently in the city of Belém, in the Brazilian state of Pará, had the great merit of bringing together, for the first time, presidents, environment and foreign affairs ministers and hundreds of civil society representatives.

Stakeholders, including Indigenous Peoples, traditional communities and inhabitants of the Amazon, as well as international cooperation and multilateral financing agencies, debated on existing challenges and possibilities for the sustainable development of a strategic region for the world, which must look towards protecting an irreplaceable biome while also reducing inequalities and promoting social inclusion.

The meeting was based on two premises, summarized by Brazilian Environment and Climate Change Minister, Marina Silva: The understanding that the Amazon must not reach a point of no return, where no regeneration is possible, and that major regional cooperation efforts are required to protect the rainforest, biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples, by promoting a new cycle of prosperity.

At the summit, 19 multilateral banks led by the IDB, the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and the CAF launched a coalition of financial institutions to support the sustainable development of the Amazon, while in the Belém Declaration the presidents of the States Parties to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty agreed to strengthen the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) to implement the new agenda of cooperation in the Amazon.

Key issues such as food and nutrition security of Amazonian people and towns, driving the bio-economy, innovation and dissemination of technologies, support for rural women entrepreneurs and the creation of a network of water authorities to improve the management of water resources in the countries, are part of this new, challenging and wide-ranging agenda, explained Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.

The summit, proposed and convened by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva, recognized explicitly the key role of international cooperation and multilateral financing in initiatives already under way to support the Amazon with technical and financial resources, in areas such as energy transition, biodiversity, and tackling hunger, climate change and deforestation.

With the vision of an international cooperation focusing on building solutions through sustainable agricultural and rural development, understanding rural territories as strategic assets and key players in the world’s food and nutrition security and environmental sustainability, the broad call led by Brazil and a coalition of stakeholders offers a unique opportunity to integrate knowledge-intensive agriculture with a human face as an active component in the protection, improvement and sustainable development of the Amazon.

Sustainable agriculture is capable of balancing human and conservation needs, by applying practices respectful to the environment like agroforestry, bio-economy, and regenerative agriculture, contributing to soil health, preventing deforestation, and promoting the restoration of ecosystems.
The current scientific and technological scenarios are reason for optimism in terms of attaining this new balance.

Sustainable, climate-smart agricultural models under the bio-economy paradigm, to give one example, can generate jobs and income for local communities, while reducing dependence on economic activities that damage the environment, thereby promoting sustainable economic and social development.

Sustainable development can also contribute to guaranteeing greater availability and access to nutritional, safe foods for local populations, improving their quality of life.
Collective actions to promote the protection of the Amazon, sustainable development and inclusion have and will continue to benefit from the steady cooperation of international stakeholders and organisations dedicated to sustainable agriculture, a crucial sector to provide comprehensive, effective responses that must be part of the solution in the world’s largest rainforest.